object of interest
by seireeii
Summary: It's these kinds of things that make Tsunayoshi wonder if he's a masochist. — Hibari, Tsunayoshi.


**notes**: Well. It's a complete shock that I managed to start this, and finish it, considering the fact that I don't like pairing two males together. But then again, it's not surprising, since it's Hibari and Tsuna. I hope you guys enjoy this? I own _nothing_ (anime, characters, layout, etc.).

* * *

**object of interest**

_i want you all to myself. _

.

.

.

There're times when Sawada Tsunayoshi wonders how Reborn manages to convince Hibari Kyouya to crowd with them.

He knows it's not rocket science—_"If you really want to repay the favor you owe Mukuro, then attend this get-together. He might show up, and you'll have your chance to bite him to death then."_—but it's not simple math either. There's a fine line with Hibari: things you shouldn't say, things you _can't_ say, words that are considered taboo in his presence, body language that's prohibited in his general vicinity. Tsunayoshi's used to this prickly behavior of Hibari's—he's grown up with the teenager, so of course some of that time would be spent figuring out his buttons and how far to push him before he tumbles over the edge.

Naturally, Tsunayoshi's been bitten a couple times. He's had quite the detailed view of the raven-haired skylark's tonfas: how many battle scars Hibari's come close to sustaining, their thickness, each prism of light that glitters off the surfaces, the barely visible uplifted triangles that hide his tonfas' thorns. Tsunayoshi's also witnessed Hibari in his more childish moments—_"That's enough. I'm leaving."_—as well as watched the angles and corners of his face grow into something oblique and unyielding, watched the man _himself_ grow into something poised and graceful, but dark as shadow and bloodthirsty as a demon, something that to this day terrifies him, even though Tsunayoshi's certain he's long since surpassed the skylark in terms of battle capabilities.

Of course, Hibari's face has never been _soft_, but to Tsunayoshi, it's _always_ been fragile.

And despite that fragility that Hibari tends to stubbornly deny, Tsunayoshi also knows that the man is human, that he has flaws, weaknesses, strengths, wants, needs, cravings. There're things that Tsunayoshi knows about Hibari that no one else does, and even though he knows that Hibari doesn't like that, doesn't like trusting Tsunayoshi with anything other than the promise of a serious one-on-one sparring match, Tsunayoshi's certain that if he'd been anyone else, Hibari would've bitten him to death by now. It's _because_ it's Tsunayoshi that Hibari hasn't made a move yet. Of that, Tsunayoshi's absolutely sure.

The only clue is this: his eyes.

Tsunayoshi's not certain when Hibari first started to look at him differently—it's not even that, really, it's just slightly _disturbing_ to the brunet—and doesn't have the mind, or the patience to figure it out, but it seems to Tsunayoshi that whenever Hibari looks at him, be it in conversation or happenstances, there's a sense of security, and safety in them, as if he's _relieved_ that it's _Tsunayoshi_ he's run into or tackled to the ground, rather than Yamamoto Takeshi, who's better known for his smiles and jack o'lantern happy disposition, or Gokudera Hayato, who's best known for shoving dynamite into the offender's face without hesitation or mercy.

Sometimes, it even looks like Hibari's deliberately crossing paths with him, simply because he wants to be in Tsunayoshi's company.

And for Tsunayoshi, that's quite frightening.

—

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

The brunet raises his sleepy caramel eyes from the stacks of paper lying just under him. With a start—and the realization that it's _Hibari Kyouya_ speaking to him, and not Gokudera Hayato, or Yamamoto Takeshi, or even _Reborn_—he frantically wipes at the corner of his mouth and parts the piles at the center of his desk, before patting his hands within the cleared space and painting a clearly forced smile on his face. Tsunayoshi knows that Hibari'll be able to see through it in a matter of moments, but Tsunayoshi's certain that that's all the time Hibari's going to take to say what he wants to say.

The man _hates_ hovering with a passion.

"What do you need, Hibari-san?" Tsunayoshi asks, keeping his volume at a minimum.

He makes sure there's no trace of anything remotely condescending or offensive in it—though, Tsunayoshi has to wonder, _would I ever __**intentionally**__ offend Hibari-san?—_and lifts his irises to Hibari's respectfully. Even though they both know that Tsunayoshi outranks Hibari by at least an entire planet (_"Is the sky really that big?"_), Tsunayoshi doesn't see the harm in behaving like Hibari's still above him. The man's made it perfectly clear that he doesn't like being subordinate to anyone, _especially_ the herbivorous Tsunayoshi, so any form of kissing up to the raven-haired skylark _definitely_ wouldn't hurt.

Unless Hibari sees through it, and then, well, Tsunayoshi's lips wouldn't be attached to his face.

"You called for me?" he asks, clearly irritated. Tsunayoshi tries to think of a reason he'd call him for—a mafia fight, a reconnaissance mission, an assassination—and scans the sheets of paper sprawled in front of him. Still, he knows he has to give Hibari a reasonable answer. One that's a definite lie, but convincing enough to be the truth.

Too bad he's no Mist Guardian. Where the hell's Mukuro when he needs him?

Tsunayoshi just crinkles his face into one of his trademark expressions. "… That sadistic infant…"

"What did you say, herbivore?"

"Nothing!" the seventeen year-old exclaims, waving his palms up, hoping that his hands will be enough to ward off the skylark's tonfas. "It's nothing, Hibari-san, nothing at all!"

He's _really_ missing his mittens right about now. And his pills. Damn Reborn for hiding them away somewhere, and his sorry excuse for a reason to do so—_"You're the boss, Stupid-Tsuna. Your guardians can handle all of the fights now. It's your job to just sit on the sidelines and act dumb."_—that's just like Reborn. Sometimes, Tsunayoshi honestly wonders whether or not the infant's truly on his side, or working for another sadist like Xanxus, _for the love of God I hope that's not true. _

Returning his attention to Hibari, he says, "Who gave you the message?"

"… Your flock."

"Just who exactly, Hibari-san?" Tsunayoshi asks, his left eyebrow twitching. He knows he has to restrain himself, keep himself in line, knowing that even the slightest twitch of a finger in the skylark's direction could set him off—no, _will_ set him off—without fail. And even now, the Cloud Guardian's eyeing Tsunayoshi with a look that clearly is intended to kill. "I need to know the specifics."

_So I can kick their ass._

Hibari crosses his arms—probably something he's picked up, perfected, and sharpened for use on the battlefield over the years, Tsunayoshi guesses—and takes a few steps closer to the brunet, his blue eyes shut, raven hair windswept and unkempt, his posture cold and emanating annoyance, but as Hibari stops in front of Tsunayoshi, he doesn't get the feeling that the skylark's going to harm him. At least physically, though Tsunayoshi's not exactly _fond_ of Hibari's tongue lashings either.

But _anything's_ better than a tonfa to the face.

"I don't have the specifics. I just know it was an herbivore under your command, asking that I come and take you, or something of that nature." Tsunayoshi blanches—_oh fucking shit_. Hibari notices the paleness of Tsunayoshi's face, and frowns at it. "I have no intention of doing so, herbivore, wipe that pathetic look from your face. It's irritating."

"Oh my god," Tsunayoshi sighs, his eyes wide, his face flushed to the extreme, his heart racing in his chest, his hands shaking, heedless of the fact that Hibari's glowering down at him. "Oh. My. God."

"What are you prattling about?" There's an eye roll, a snort, before: "That's enough. I'm leaving."

Tsunayoshi blinks out of his self-imposed stupor, and rises from his chair, "Wait, Hibari-san!"

Hibari turns one Narnia-degrees Fahrenheit eye back over his shoulder, facing Tsunayoshi with that eye, and that eye alone. "Hn?"

Tsunayoshi swallows.

Hibari closes his iris, but doesn't turn away just yet.

"Hibari-san, I was wondering if, you know, you wanted to, uh"—Tsunayoshi's eyes flick from side to side, as the brunet struggles to think of something, anything to keep the skylark in front of him, _wait, what?_—"spar!" he says, a smile bursting to his face. Hibari's eye slides open moments later, analyzing the auburn-haired teen with a practiced eye. Seeing the hesitancy in Hibari's gaze, Tsunayoshi compassionately adds, "We can do it at your place, if that would make you feel more comfortable."

It's one of these moments that make Tsunayoshi wonder if he's a masochist.

… As well as whether or not the fact that he and Hibari _being alone together for an indefinite amount of time_ is worth the pain that's coming for him.

Initially, Hibari just stands there, gazing back at Tsunayoshi like he's either lost his mind, or is close to losing it, because he—as well as Tsunayoshi—knows that the brown-haired teenager would _never_, under _any_ circumstance, willingly ask Hibari if he'd like to spar. This, in itself, is enough to make Hibari pause, and consider his response, because frankly, in his current state, Tsunayoshi would present Hibari with a beautiful challenge. And though both of them know that Hibari has a massive amount of work waiting for him at his desk, they also know that Hibari isn't the type to turn down a challenge of any kind.

Tsunayoshi knows this, and thus makes a mental note to have his office stripped and thoroughly searched for his mittens and pills, because he sure as hell isn't going to fight Hibari unarmed. He doesn't stand a chance as it is—Tsunayoshi likes to think that with his gloves, and Sky-class flames, he'd put up a satisfying fight (at least for _Hibari_, in this case). But then again, knowing Reborn, Tsunayoshi's sure that the infant would give him his gloves and pills back if Tsunayoshi tells him that it's for the sake of training to become stronger, in case acting dumb won't suffice.

Again, Tsunayoshi curses Reborn.

"That's fine," Hibari replies smoothly, turning to face Tsunayoshi completely. This action not only frightens the brunet, but also sets his idea—_"Damn it, it wasn't supposed to go this far, what the hell was I thinking, now I'm gonna die!"_—in stone. He's going to be sparring with Hibari Kyouya, Vongola's strongest Guardian.

Holy fucking shit.

Tsunayoshi struggles with the heat that threatens to combust him from the inside. "What time works best for you, Hibari-san?"

_Please don't say right now, please don't say right now, please don't say_—"… Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Tsunayoshi asks, opening his eyes—when exactly had he closed them?—and blinking in relief. When Hibari's eyebrow rises, Tsunayoshi nods, and coughs out a laugh, "Hah, tomorrow. Yeah, that works. I've got paperwork to do, and so do you."

"Yes." Hibari's tone lingers upon the air between them, "Is that all you needed?"

"Y—Yeah, Hibari-san, that's all I needed from you," Tsunayoshi stutters, reaching for the closest stack of papers.

"Hn," Hibari snorts, turning away, "I'll be leaving now, herbivore."

_Is it just me, or is Hibari-san waiting for something? _

Tsunayoshi sighs, "Yes, I'll see you tomorrow, then, Hibari-san."

Hibari glances back at the brunet with both eyes this time, and on reflex, Tsunayoshi tenses, braces himself for a tonfa to smack him upside the jaw. But no pain comes, just the steadfast gleam of azure shining in the fluorescents above them. It's a lingering look, one that Hibari never wears, one that makes him look so treacherously vulnerable that Tsunayoshi's stupid mind is urging him to call Hibari out on it. But because Tsunayoshi would still like to live for at least one day longer, he simply gazes back, his caramel eyes unwaveringly gentle, soft, and dare he think it, affectionate. Hibari curves his lips up in a slight smile, before opening the door, and stepping out into the hallway without a word.

The door shuts behind him.

It takes Tsunayoshi a few moments to recover from the removal of the weight of the skylark's presence. But once he does, he lets his face fall flat to the desk, splattering a few stacks of papers and spilling them onto the floor, before moaning, "You'll be the death of me, I swear, Hibari-san."

—

Of course, there _would_ be resistance to this arrangement.

It's mostly from Gokudera Hayato—another no brainer, it's common knowledge in the Vongola Mansion that the silver-haired Storm Guardian doesn't like the rather _prickly_ (to say the _very least_) Hibari Kyouya—and it comes out in roars from brooding crimson Storm-class flames, hisses of dynamite being lit, and put out, as well as shouts of, _"Fuck that! I don't want Tenth to be anywhere near the fucking bastard!"_ and, _"I don't care if he's one of Tenth's guardians! That fucking bastard had better keep his ass away from Tenth, or I'll blow him into one thousand pieces!"_. Of course, Tsunayoshi hides his face behind one hand, and prays to the heavens above that Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasagawa Ryohei _combined_ will be enough to tame the temperamental Storm Guardian.

And if they're not… he's going to have to improvise.

But they are, by the skins of their teeth, and at least ten thousand fiamma volts of Rain-class flames to counter Sistema C.A.I's Storm attack, as well as at least one hundred thousand fiamma volts of Sun-class flames to give Yamamoto the juice to keep pushing through the blast with Scontro di Rondine. And the result of which? The three of them are passed out on the floor, snoring loudly in the middle of the destroyed hallway with their box weapons sprawled across the ground around them, their weapons cast aside, and the ashes snowing from the ceiling and walls around them, attempting to bury them as they sleep.

The fact that the three of them are unconscious and that the medics on are on their way allows for Tsunayoshi to leave the Vongola Mansion without a hitch. Though he _still_ doesn't have his gloves—_"That stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid sadistic infant!"_—or his pills, he's sure he'll be able to fight just fine without them, considering that he has to know how to use martial arts in order to fight with his gloves effectively. _I don't need flames_, he tries to convince himself, _I don't need my gloves, and I don't need my pills_.

Tsunayoshi is sure he's going to be clinically insane by the time he reaches Hibari's Facility.

… If he isn't already—just what the hell was he thinking?

Slipping past the guards with just a glance—he knows that they know who he is, Hibari would make sure to have them know that Tsunayoshi's coming—he manages to make it into the Facility with no trouble. It's just that once he finds the sparring room, Hibari's _alone_. Tsunayoshi pauses by the door, hesitant to step into the room and announce his presence. He knows that it's only natural that Hibari would be alone, it's only the two of them that are supposed to spar, not, say, three or four of them. Tsunayoshi's entire body flushes with embarrassment, and before he knows it, he's turning around and walking away.

"Just _where_ do you think you're going, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Or, _was_ walking away.

Mechanically, Tsunayoshi turns around, his fake smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, "I was… just… looking for the restroom."

"I see." Hibari isn't convinced, of course he isn't convinced, it's the oldest trick in the book. "And I'm assuming that since you had this place built that you would've realized that the restrooms are at the opposite end of the hall."

And there goes his excuse. "… Right."

"Not the way you were walking," Hibari adds, his tone murderously calm. "Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Knowing that the chances of his getting away are null and void, Tsunayoshi turns around to face Hibari and starts walking back toward the sparring room, saying, "Well, Hibari-san? We're still going to practice, aren't we?"

This surprises Hibari—this willingness, this submissiveness, this… _softer_ Tsunayoshi—but with a nod, he follows the brunet into the room, and allows the younger teenager to take the opposite side of the room. It's not until he reaches it that he finds something lying on the floor—are those his goddamn gloves, and pills, and a note?!—and Tsunayoshi scoops them up in his hands, flipping the note open and reading the words from his tutor, _"Here are your gloves, and pills, Stupid-Tsuna, as promised. Don't let Hibari kick your ass too hard, understand?"_

Tsunayoshi's face twists into one of his irritated expressions as he slips his mittens onto his hands and pat his hands together, sighing at the familiar feel of them against his skin. He pops the lid of the container holding his pills, and turns to face Hibari, shoving the note into his pocket. The raven-haired skylark's violet-purple box swings from a belt loop on his waist as he pulls out his tonfas, taking his stance and waiting for the brunet to enter Hyper Dying Will Mode. Tsunayoshi's slightly surprised by this courtesy, but doesn't question it as he pulls out two pills, stuffing the rest back into his pocket, before swallowing them whole.

Bright orange flames burst from the center of his forehead, and his hands clench, embracing the strength that thunders through his veins, breaking his limit lines and snapping them in half mercilessly, his eyes opening, his heart pulsing, "I'm ready."

Hibari's azure eyes narrow at Tsunayoshi's tone, his lips curving into a slight smirk at the sight of the flames cradling the teenager's hands. "This fight doesn't have any rules to follow. Your only choices are to die, or defeat me."

_Just like that time in the future. _

Tsunayoshi's gaze is steady as he meets Hibari's. "I'll win."

"Hn," Hibari snorts, his hellish grin shadowed by his thick, black bangs. "_Come and get it_."

Without hesitation, and a slight smirk of his own, Tsunayoshi's blazing through the air toward Hibari, his flames bursting through the air behind him. Though he knows that Hibari's not a novice, and that flames twice the size of his own won't frighten the skylark, Tsunayoshi's sure that the Cloud Guardian is somewhat surprised though, because there's a stutter to his step as he surges forward to meet the brunet. Tsunayoshi's burning fist collides with Hibari's flaming tonfa, and they hold each other about a foot apart, refusing to give even an inch of ground.

The dance starts.

—

It takes about twenty minutes of pure brawling for Tsunayoshi to _finally_ decide to not use his arm to deflect the man's tonfas, and stretch the fight into a battle of box weapons and—why didn't he think of this before?—X-Burner.

He's initially hesitant to go against Hibari full-force (he knows the skylark's not using all of his strength to ward off Tsunayoshi's attacks, even though Tsunayoshi can tell that he's enjoying himself), simply because those are weapons that he doesn't want to use against his own comrades, people he loves and would give anything to protect, but when Hibari sends Roll flying his way and Tsunayoshi lifts Natsu to protect himself, he knows that the real fight's only beginning, and that he needs to get serious.

The moment Natsu touches his paws back to Tsunayoshi's shoulder, the brunet raises his hands, and says, very clearly, "Operation X."

Hibari widens his eyes for a fraction of a second, and impulsively charges, despite the fact that Tsunayoshi's already firing—there's enough pressure to burn the clothes off the skylark's arm, but not enough to critically injure him—and the nineteen year-old raises his left tonfa defensively, bracing the weapon with Cloud-class flames and narrowing his eyes as he takes the attack in full. Tsunayoshi narrows his eyes a short distance away, the bloody corner of his lips tensing, the flames at his forehead beginning to pulse.

Out of sheer willpower, Tsunayoshi manages to increase the power of his X-Burner just enough to have the off-balanced Hibari slide out of the way of his Sky-class flames, unscathed other than the slight burn on his sleeve. Tsunayoshi's flames spark from his forehead, and moments later, he's flying toward the raven-haired skylark crouching on the floor glancing at the slightly melted body of his tonfa. The moment he touches ground again, the flames at his forehead burn out, and he drops to his knees in front of Hibari, concern etched into every one of his features.

His hands take Hibari's arm in his palms, "Hibari-san, are you alright? I didn't mean to hurt you! God, I _knew_ I shouldn't have fired it, I knew it!"

He doesn't notice the steady gaze on him, the earnest surprise in the skylark's eyes, the indifference masking the emotions boiling under the surface. Tsunayoshi doesn't hesitate to pull the sleeve back from Hibari's arm—his heart skips a beat as the charred fabric flutters to the floor—before he spots the blistering red mark that is the Cloud Guardian's arm. Bruises and splintered bones aside, Tsunayoshi _cannot_ brush this off. He just _can't_.

His mind is in a frenzy. "Oh my god, oh my god, I hurt him, I hurt him, I hurt him, I'm so sorry, Hibari-san, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." Hibari's stubbornness isn't needed. It's not helping Tsunayoshi, and it's certainly not helping Hibari himself. "Stop whimpering. It's unsightly."

"But I _hurt_ you!" Tsunayoshi exclaims, raising his face to Hibari's, "I fired the _X-Burner_ at you!"

"We were in the middle of a fight, herbivore," Hibari responds, his tone flat, dismissive. "It's fine."

Tsunayoshi doesn't relax his grip on Hibari's arm, and Hibari makes no move to remove it. "But _Hibari-san_—"

"—Stop talking," Hibari interrupts, raising his free hand to Tsunayoshi's chin, holding his head still, "just _stop_ talking, and _listen_ to me."

Tsunayoshi's mouth clamps shut, Natsu's paws vacating his shoulder in the next moment.

It's like Tsunayoshi's staring into a deep, unwavering ocean of shadowed emotions. There's no light in Hibari's irises, just poised, treacherous grace that threatens to swallow the weaker, softer, gentler herbivore into their depths. Hibari's fingers are steadfast in their hold on Tsunayoshi's jaw, pulling at the skin of his cheeks, holding onto his face with no semblance of gentleness or tenderness, just machines without emotion or feeling. That's just like Hibari-san, Tsunayoshi notes, to act without emotion holding him down.

Hibari's voice comes out quieter than Tsunayoshi expects, but it's cold all the same, "When did you become so strong?"

"Eh?" Tsunayoshi asks, blinking in surprise for a moment. That's nowhere close to what he expected, at all.

Hibari merely leans a bit closer, his eyes a mere centimeter from Tsunayoshi's: "When did you become so strong?"

Of course Hibari would be asking about Tsunayoshi's fighting capability rather than something more relevant to the previous conversation. The stubborn prick—he really _hasn't_ changed.

Tsunayoshi doesn't answer for a moment, just gives Hibari's arm a gentle squeeze. Hibari's irises tighten for a moment, confirming Tsunayoshi's thoughts, "You're injured."

"Answer my question, Sawada Tsunayoshi," he replies, ignoring Tsunayoshi's statement entirely. "And let go of my arm."

Figuring that that's as close as Hibari's going to get to admitting weakness—for once—Tsunayoshi sighs, "I'll answer you as soon as you visit the medics to get your injuries checked, alright?"

"Herbi—"

"—It'll give me some peace of mind, Hibari-san," Tsunayoshi continues, tightening his hands inside his mittens. When his brown eyes meet Hibari's once more, the skylark flinches at the intensity of them. "_Please_."

And though Tsunayoshi can tell that it's taking a hell of a lot of willpower for him to say it, Hibari's lips move in response.

"If you speak of this to anyone, I'll hunt you down and bite you to death myself."

Feeling brave—or stupid, he's really not sure, at this point—Tsunayoshi laughs, "I won't have to say anything anyone. They'll just see your cast, and ask you what happened to your arm."

"Regardless." It's definitive, final, and absolutely _pissed off_. "Don't speak of this to anyone."

"I know, Hibari-san," Tsunayoshi answers, helping the skylark up despite the fact that he knows Hibari's capable of standing on his own, "I know."

—

It takes almost _thirty minutes_ to convince Kusakabe Tetsuya that Hibari's injuries aren't grave enough to kill him.

Of course, Tsunayoshi's apologizing, and bowing his head, and _still_ holding Hibari's injured arm like it's a lifeline, and Hibari's still snorting, seething, and half-tempted to reach for his tonfas and beat the living shit out of the herbivore holding onto him. But once it clicks in Tetsuya's head that Hibari's life's not in danger—_"I swear to you that I would never, ever kill any of my friends, or Hibari-san_."—all is calm again, and Tsunayoshi finds it in himself to relax, and release the bristling raven-haired teenager from his grasp.

They _barely_ manage to get the Cloud Guardian into the medical room, with all of the ferocious skylark's kicking and thrashing and fighting against Tsunayoshi's gentle murmurs and Tetsuya's unwavering grip. And despite the fact that Hibari protests so strongly that his death aura's _crawling_ up Tsunayoshi's spine, the Vongola Boss calls Ryohei in to heal the skylark's arm, under the condition that _nothing_ leaves the medical room, which noticeably pacifies the black-haired boy. Once Tsunayoshi hangs up the phone, he turns back to Hibari, and Tetsuya, and takes one hesitant step toward them.

"I'm sorry, Hibari-san," he says, knowing that Hibari's not going to listen, or acknowledge the sincerity in his tone, "I'm really, really sorry. I knew I shouldn't have fired it at you."

"What have I been telling you for the past hour, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Hibari asks, his voice deadly calm, though almost murderously cold. "It's fine."

"It's not _fine_, Hibari-san," Tsunayoshi protests, on the brink of explosion, "it's just _not_. I _hurt_ you. I intentionally used one of my strongest weapons against you, knowing the risk to you, and ended up harming you. That's not _fine_, Hibari-san. That's plain stupidity."

"Sawada-san," Tetsuya breathes from where he sits beside Hibari, quickly falling silent as Hibari rises to his feet.

Tsunayoshi watches his Cloud Guardian approach him—_"I almost don't want him anywhere near me. I could've killed him, how stupid can I get?"_—and closes his eyes, tightens his hands (they're still covered by his mittens, to his surprise), and bites out, "I'm sorry, Hibari-san."

"It's instinctive," Hibari starts, stopping just in front of the brunet, "to use whatever means necessary to protect oneself from an opponent that is stronger in all aspects. This is _natural_, Sawada Tsunayoshi, and is therefore understandable. Stop screaming over something that isn't an issue—It's fine, herbivore."

Faced with Hibari's ecological approach to translating his true emotions, Tsunayoshi merely says, "I get it, but I'm still sorry."

"I don't need your apology, herbivore," Hibari responds, his tone cold, his eyes closing, "and I _don't_ need your concern. I'm not so weak as to require you to whimper and scream over something so trivial and ridiculous."

They're a few beats of silence between them. Tetsuya rises from his chair, and bows to both Hibari and Tsunayoshi before he leaves the room, sliding the door open and shut in one fluid movement. And even though the sound of the door whistling open, and closed echoes through the small, tiny space of the medical room, neither of them move from where they stand, eyes locked together, hearts beating close. Tsunayoshi tenses his grip on Hibari's injured arm, noting the unyielding flicker in the skylark's irises, before sighing.

When he lifts his head back to Hibari's, Tsunayoshi says, "I'll replace your tonfas."

_That_ comment earns a snort from the raven-haired Cloud Guardian, but this time, he doesn't refuse.

.

**end.**

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**notes**: Please review to tell me what you think? Thank you for reading!


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